GreaterMSPahead Initiative Next Steps

Two regional meetings and a yearlong process with GreaterMSPahead partners, kicked off a regional discussion at the July 8th joint Regional Council of Mayors, ULI MN Advisory Board, and ULI MN Young Leaders Executive Committee meeting. The discussion focused on 7 proposed regional priorities. There was no debate about these priorities; in fact, attendees at this special joint meeting seemed itching to get started on making something happen. Read more here.

Read the Event Documents Here:

May 31st Event

The May 31 meeting, tagged by one participant as “the most authentic I have experienced,” was coming to a close. Standing in front were Kathy Schmidlkofer, executive vice president of Greater MSP and Pat Born, regional administrator for the Metropolitan Council. Promising “We are going to do more together,” they inspired others to keep the conversation alive, and to step up the level of collaboration across the region’s civic organizations.

Jim Hovland, co-chair of the Regional Council of Mayors, quickly added that this agenda would be front and center for mayors. Other participants, representing the wide range of organizations, spoke up to emphasize their dedication to do what needs to be done to move this region ahead.

Rising from the myriad ideas generated April 19, May 31 got clear focus: making a great region an even greater place; making and mastering a compelling message, a common voice and brand to tell the story; and making a movement that keeps the energy going and produces results.

Drilling down into priorities, participants talked about what matters most and what has to happen first. Table talk sessions produced fresh ideas for how to enable action. (See meeting summary links below.) No one suggested minimizing challenges, but solid consensus formed about taking an aspirational tone as we work, celebrating assets, “breaking out of that Minnesota reserve.” Instead of operating from fear of threats to natural resources, we can both protect and leverage these assets to make a better place and a stronger economy. As Jay Walljasper a national writer who lives here put it, “I can get on my bike and be down on the river, all nature around me, yet I’m also in the middle of a metro area of three million people.”

Action, participants advised, depends both on collaboration – working together for someone everyone wants; but also individual initiative. “It’s the first follower who turns the lone nut into a leader.” (See video link to Tedx talk below.) That’s how every movement begins.

A robust round of thankful applause for the convening and organizing leadership provided by Caren Dewar and Minnesota ULI brought the meeting to an end.

Watch the Event Videos Here:

Read the Event Documents Here:

April 19th Event

In the windswept wake of yet another April snowstorm, an unusual cross-section of 255 citizens of the Minneapolis Saint Paul region gathered all day April 19 to listen, learn, deliberate, and decide about a wide range of challenges to making this region the best it can be at economic competitiveness and social livability.

Futurist Jack Uldrich stretched minds with dramatic evidence of what is changing in our world and how fast that change is coming. Retired but very active Colonel Mark Mykleby made previously soft values into hardheaded reality explaining how a shift to sustainable practices is a necessary condition of national security.

Participants were not passive. Table teams pitched in to compare notes on what we currently think and say about the place where we live and work; how assets stack up with concerns. Each team laid out strategies for real-life scenarios aimed at attracting or retaining people and firms. And pushed even further for tactical insights to meet both foreseen and surprising threats – from dire shortages of qualified workers to catastrophic collapse of the region’s water advantage. This meeting will, like many, lead to another, but also to committed action.